


folk etymology

by lacrimalis



Category: Vampyr (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Languages and Linguistics, Lore Study, References to Non-Consensual Blood Drinking, Slightly Morbid Concepts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28729566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lacrimalis/pseuds/lacrimalis
Summary: Skaldoes not meanslave.It meansdrink.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	folk etymology

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gyre_and_Gimble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gyre_and_Gimble/gifts).



In the schism between the Brotherhood of Saint Paul’s Stole and the Guard of Priwen, centuries of accumulated mortal knowledge regarding those creatures known as vampires was muddled, tangled, broken and lost.

Ideological schisms in secret societies are not clean, not clear-cut. Like unhappy divorcees squabbling over the fine china and grandmother’s quilts, they may come to find much later that they have mistakenly taken a box of their former partner’s clothes, or keepsakes. Useless to them, and sorely missed by their partner—or perhaps not noticed at all, those memorabilia forgotten in the intervening years.

Those insurgent members of the Guard of Priwen did not formalize their departure from the Brotherhood. They took what they could carry and vanished into the night, in pursuit of the night’s lurking monsters which they believed their brethren too cowardly to hunt.

When choosing what to leave and what to take, the Guard of Priwen naturally prioritized that which would help them in their first Great Hunt: names and locations of confirmed vampires, the weaknesses and dangers of each species, methods of torturing immortals and ending their lives...

The operative word here being 'prioritized', because it turns out your priorities have little bearing on what you can feasibly identify and make off with in the span of a single night.

So some documents which they took in their haste proved useless—interviews with vampires about frivolous mundanities and unhelpful minutiae, like what their hobbies were, or how they took their tea, or the most favorable star sign under which to make new Progeny (supposedly it is Aries, though this is still hotly debated in the Brotherhood).

Other documents were taken piecemeal by mistake, the odd page mislaid by an archivist earlier, or fallen by the wayside as they fled.

Still more documents which they may have benefited from were overlooked, and subsequently left behind. Namely, those documents which identified vampires already long dead—like King Arthur, whose shield is the Guard of Priwen's namesake, in a tragedy of dramatic irony which would go on to be their legacy.

Among the misconceptions fomented by this schism is the etymology of the word _Skal._

Records suggest it is a loanword which translates to _slave._ But what the records no longer evince is the source from which this information was first derived. In point of fact, it is folk etymology—put forth by a particularly air-headed Ekon of the gentry who spent more time woolgathering than studying, and committed to pen and paper by a mortal member of the Brotherhood who had an interest in the aforesaid Ekon that may well have exceeded the threshold of the professional or academic.

But contrary to the wisdom popularized by this fanciful interview, _Skal_ does not mean _slave._

It means _drink._

From the Old Norse _skál_ meaning _bowl,_ referring to the communal vessels from which people served themselves ale. From there, the word spread to several Scandinavian languages as _skål,_ an interjection akin to the contemporary English _cheers_ or the German _prost_ or the Arabic _saha—_ a toast to one’s health, offered to one’s drinking companions.

The word _skål_ saw flexible use; it was not only used to offer well-wishes and good health to one's companions, but to goad and challenge them as well. Anyone acquainted even in passing with their local drinking establishments can recognize the chant—

_Drink, drink, drink!_

Vampires were human once, and most go on to participate in human society after their transformation. So the drinking practices of Nordic mortals passed along quite naturally to the custodianship of Nordic vampires. And the excess of the habitual drinker became the morbid merrymaking of the blood-glutted.

Covens of vampires celebrating a conquest were just as generous with their communal _skál_ as their human counterparts.

Thus, the mortals misfortunate enough to be so ill-used, to be passed around like a drinking horn, who by chance happened to consume a drop or two of their captors' blood, were so-named for their original purpose.

Skal.

_Drink._

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot express how VISCERALLY offended I was when, after reading the in-game lore about "skal" meaning "slave", I followed up with my own research online and found not a damn thing confirming that. Stéphane Beauverger turn on your location, I just want to talk. 🙄🔪🔪🔪
> 
> Inspirations for this fic include:
> 
> [A clip from AC: Valhalla demonstrating (possibly embellished) Nordic usage of the word skal](https://youtu.be/1MOHaTuI0gg?t=64) \-- and props to Gyre_and_Gimble for bringing this to my attention!
> 
> I imagine the optics of how old-timey Nordic vampires did their morbid drinking games resembles [the pirates' treatment of Jim Hawkins in the first ten seconds of this clip from Muppet Treasure Island](https://youtu.be/YvUbbYX9BMs)
> 
> [And here's the wiktionary page for the word's etymology](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/sk%C3%A5l), in case you're curious!
> 
> anyway thanks for reading my humble fandom linguistics essay! smoochie 😘 💕


End file.
